SOUTH AFRICA - A team of German technical experts is expected to touch down in South Africa on Thursday to provide essential services to local German businesses and local entities, such as embattled Eskom. This agreement is the result of close cooperation between International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, supported by the efforts of the South-African-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Lufthansa and the German Embassy, together with the relevant South African authorities. Steffen Scholz, spokesperson of the German Embassy in South Africa, said many businesses had come to a halt during the lockdown in South Africa. On Thursday morning, a special Lufthansa flight is due to arrive from Frankfurt in Germany at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport. On board are engineers, technicians and other experts whose skills are urgently needed to help get the economy going and South African exports rolling again, according to Scholtz.

USA - From the New England Journal of Medicine: “We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 30 minutes). The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic …they give a false sense of security to both the wearer and those around the wearer”.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - The United Arab Emirates has become the first nation in the Arab world to produce nuclear energy, following the start-up of a newly constructed plant in Abu Dhabi. The Barakah Nuclear Power Plant’s Unit 1 is now using nuclear fuel to produce energy after the facility successfully executed initial tests on Saturday. Three other reactors are still under construction and the plant still needs to be connected to the country’s power grid, local media reported. The Dubai leader also said the plant’s launch illustrates that “the Arabs are able to resume their scientific ambitions” and hinted that the next step for the UAE is space exploration.

USA - Sam Brownback, US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said China’s hacking of Vatican computers should warn Church leaders the nation’s communist government is not to be trusted. Speaking with Crux, a US-based online Catholic news outlet, Ambassador Brownback said he really hopes “that the Vatican would look at this and see what they are dealing with,” in reference to revelations this week that hackers tied to the Chinese government had infiltrated the Vatican’s computer networks beginning last May. “If I were a Vatican official and seeing this is who I am dealing with, and this is how they are going to deal with me, it would cause me great pause to think about how can I trust and work with these other individuals that are spying on me,” Brownback said.

USA - Every morning, Charles Boukas drives to six Chase banks in the San Diego area in search of quarters. The most he ever drove to was eight, but one branch was closed that day, and two others didn’t have change. Boukas, the 55-year-old owner of the Coin Hut Laundromat, is in a bind: He’s running low on quarters because residents of apartment complexes are making change and not using his machines. The whole trip takes about two hours, and the total amount of quarters he can get is worth $120 because his banks limit how many coins they give out. So he’s been seeking alternative sources. Under couch cushions? Maybe not that far—but close. “Our biggest success has been friends and family so far, and the banks are just a daily grind that I do,” he says.

USA - Demonstrators in Portland set Bibles and US flags on fire amid protests that have spanned nearly 2 months. The day before, protesters torched a pig’s head with police clothing, though they still claim their movement is peaceful. Footage published by RT’s Ruptly video agency shows a group of protesters on Friday night gathered around a burning Bible, with several individuals mockingly warming their hands around the fire. Laughter and shouts of “F**k Trump” can be heard in the background. US flags were also burned by the protesters, who were seen crowding around the fire and taking photographs. The provocative bonfires come one night after demonstrators torched a severed pig’s head that was placed under an American flag. The head was decorated with a police officer’s hat, leaving little to the imagination.

CAMBODIA - The Mekong River Commission (MRC) has issued a severe drought warning for southern Laos, northeast Cambodia and the Central Highlands of Vietnam amid low rainfall and complaints about water hoarding upstream. The drought is being felt along the length and breadth of the Mekong Delta and in its latest weekly forecast the MRC’s Regional Flood and Drought Management Centre in Phnom Penh said other areas in the region are also suffering moderate to severe drought. Rainfall for the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) in May and June was about 70 percent lower than a year ago when the region was already in drought. The MRC usually issues flood warnings at this time of year.

USA - US-German relations are beyond repair as the result of a decades-long clash of views and ideas. Troop pullout is only a symptom. While the Trump administration sells the decision to withdraw US troops from Germany as a strengthening of NATO force alignment, the reality is it’s merely the latest manifestation of a relationship on the decline for decades.

USA - The US Africa Command will seek to move its headquarters as the Pentagon plans a major reduction of American forces based in Germany. The German Defense Ministry is now considering how to help regions after the US withdrawal. Since its establishment in 2008, the US Africa Command has been headquartered in Stuttgart, the capital of Germany’s southwestern Baden-Wurttemberg state.

ISRAEL - A major step towards fixing the broken heart of the Jewish people on the Temple Mount was made on Tish B’Av, the day commemorating the destruction of the Temples: the Israeli flag was displayed for the first time since Israel conquered its holiest site in the 1967 Six-Day War. Despite coronavirus restrictions and threats of Muslim violence, almost 1,000 Jews ascended to the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av. A similar attempt on Jerusalem Day in 2018 ended in Muslim violence and the police arresting the Jews. “This is the first time that a Jew has waved an Israeli flag on the Temple Mount and the police did not arrest him,” Brosh emphasized.

USA - Families trying to squeeze in a summer vacation before school starts better do some homework on COVID-19 restrictions before loading up the minivan. The web of state and local quarantines is growing more tangled by the day: New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have ordered visitors from a whopping 34 states to quarantine for 14 days. Chicago and Washington, DC, have each singled out travelers from about two dozen states. Other states have their own lists. Some have an option for visitors to get tested instead. “Complicated doesn’t begin to describe it. I feel sorry for people. They just want to go to Cape Cod. They want to go to Vermont. I don’t know what to tell them. People are pretty much left on their own to figure out,” said Kathy Kutrubes, owner of a travel agency in Boston. The restrictions — and maybe the confusion, too — are contributing to a sharp drop in travel, dealing a blow to a key industry.

JAPAN - After initial success, Japan is facing a reality check on the coronavirus. The country garnered global attention after containing the first wave of Covid-19 with what it referred to as the “Japan Model” - limited testing and no lockdown, nor any legal means to force businesses to close. The country’s finance minister even suggested a higher “cultural standard” helped contain the disease. But now the island nation is facing a formidable resurgence, with Covid-19 cases hitting records nationwide day after day. Infections first concentrated in the capital have spread to other urban areas, while regions without cases for months have become new hotspots. And the patient demographic - originally younger people less likely to fall seriously ill - is expanding to the elderly, a concern given that Japan is home to the world’s oldest population.

UK - A senior executive for pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has confirmed that his company cannot face legal action for any potential side effects caused by its Covid vaccine. Those affected will have no legal recourse. AstraZeneca is one of 25 pharmaceutical companies worldwide already testing their Covid vaccines on humans, in preparation for injecting hundreds of millions of people. These are flush times for Britain’s largest pharmaceutical company, worth something in the order of £70 million. They have just reported bumper profits of $12.6 billion in the last six months alone. But despite its healthy balance sheet, AstraZeneca is unwilling to be held responsible for any potential side effects of its ‘hopeful’ vaccine candidate. In other words, the company is completely protected, or indemnified, against lawsuits from people who are injected with their vaccine and experience negative effects, regardless of how severe or long-lasting they are.

USA - A CDC report released Friday reveals that hundreds of campers at a north Georgia YMCA camp were infected with coronavirus in just days before the camp was shut down. According to the report, of the 597 residents who attended the camp, 344 were tested and 260 tested positive for the virus. The camp was only open for four days before being shut down because of the virus, and officials followed all recommended safety protocols. In total, the virus attacked 44% of the children, staff members and trainees who attended the camp.

With back-to-school fast approaching, it’s important to point out that this was an overnight camp. “Relatively large cohorts sleeping in the same cabin and engaging in regular singing and cheering likely contributed to transmission,” officials said. MacArthur said strict adherence to wearing a mask and social distancing is hard for kids, but the study makes it clear that those guidelines are important.

UK - Christians in Scotland have warned new hate speech legislation could enshrine “cancel culture” in law while rendering expression of biblical morality illegal. The Scottish Parliament is currently debating the “Hate Crime and Public Order” bill that would criminalize communicating “threatening, abusive or insulting material” that is “likely” to stir up hatred against a protected group, which Christians fear could easily include traditional Christian teaching on sexual morality, marriage, and human nature. “A new offence of possessing inflammatory material could even render material such as the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church inflammatory,” Mr Horan said. “The Catholic Church’s understanding of the human person, including the belief that sex and gender are not fluid and changeable, could potentially fall foul of the new law.”